At the age of 17, Chris was given a job as Program Director by Alex Gong at Fairtex in San Francisco. Gong, a talented and decorated fighter was killed after pursuing a man that fled the scene of a hit-and-run incident involving Gongs' car. After Gongs' untimely death Chris and Bunkerd left Fairtex and opened their own gym (Fight and Fitness) in pursuit of their dreams.

Since then, Cariaso began training in fighting in MMA, rattling off 6 consecutive victories before being handed his first loss. Rebounding quickly a few months later, Cariaso submitted Cung Le student, Anthony Figueroa by rear-naked-choke (mata leon) in the second round of their bout on the Melendez vs. Thomson fight card in June of 2008.

After almost a year of not stepping in the ring to compete, Cariaso was given an opportunity to fight for the World Combat Sports Challenge National Bantamweight Title. His opponent was Alvin Cacdac, a tough fighter with a solid wrestling background, who recently defeated another of Cung Le's students, Jose Palacios.

Cariaso and Cacdac met on May 30th, and after 5 rounds of back and forth action, Cariaso was able to capitalize after escaping a knee-bar attempt by Cacdac in the 5th and final round of their bout. Cariaso was able to sink in a rear-naked-choke (mata leon) that Cacdac was unable to defend, giving Cariaso the victory, and crowning him WCSC National Bantamweight Champion.